


Slippery Business

by scrapmetal



Category: Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood & Manga, Slime Rancher (Video Game)
Genre: Edling Week, Edling Week 2019, M/M, slime rights amirite?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-20
Updated: 2019-06-20
Packaged: 2020-05-15 14:35:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,646
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19297741
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/scrapmetal/pseuds/scrapmetal
Summary: Quicksilver slimes are found on one specific archipelago on the Far Far Range, and unfortunately that archipelago is completely monopolized by Empire Industries. When Mei, owner of the place, finally allows Ed to study the limited slimes, he finds Ling, Mei's brother who he didn't even realize existed.Edling day 6- Crossover





	Slippery Business

**Author's Note:**

> this isn't very well edited i... hope its legible. had to post it quick haha. anyways if you know anything about slime rancher lore mei is mochi miles and ed and al are viktor humphries. y'all enjoying the new glitch slimes?

“Remember! You can't keep any plorts or slimes unless you want to get banned forever!”

 

“Yeah yeah I know.” Ed said, waving Mei's words away as he walked away from her. She was so goddamn young to be running this place, and so goddamn young to be ordering him around. He hated it. Quicksilver slimes weren't found anywhere else on the planet known as the Far Far Range though so he had to go through the mess that was getting a permit from Empire Industries to study the things.

 

“Stay with Ling, he'll show you around.”

 

Ling..?

 

Ed turned away from Mei to find an unfamiliar smiling face directly in front of his own. Well, maybe a bit higher than his own. 

 

“Hi! I'm Ling, Mei's older brother. You probably don't recognize me because I've only been on the Range for a month, but I know my way around.”

 

Ed slowly shook Ling's outstretched hand. He had no idea Mei had any siblings, much less older ones. Why was she out here by herself when Ling looked to be a good 4 years older?

 

“Uh. I'm Ed. Could you show me where the quicksilver slimes are?”

 

“Well they're all over the place! But I'll take you to the sunrocks, that's where you'll find the most of them.”

 

Ed followed Ling into a large garage type place behind the manor that contained many machines Ed knew he'd never get permission to inspect and a small collection of teleporters. Ling looked back quickly to see if Ed was keeping up and then leapt into the portal of one of the teleporters. Ed followed. 

 

The sunrocks were objectively beautiful, Ed decided. They were huge slabs of rock that formed a cliff that went down into the slime sea. The cliff wasn't too tall though, sea spray hung in the air and Ed could already see quicksilver slimes being born from the waters and landing on the rocks. 

 

Slimes were usually clumsy, bumbling creatures; cute but not fast. Quicksilver slimes however lived up to their name. They sped around the area leaving faint trails behind them like snails, racing around the two humans and then returning back to the sea they came from. 

 

“They love this place because of how sunny it is,” Ling explained. “When we feed them we charge them with short bursts of energy, as you've probably done when volunteering during feeding time, but naturally they slowly become charged in the sun over time before producing a plort.”

 

Ed nodded thoughfully. “I… Did not know that. I guess they're like puddle and fire slimes for more reasons than their lower viscosity. They too absorb their food rather than eating it like most slimes. I wonder if they're a cousin of the family?”

 

Ling nodded. “That would make sense, I've never seen a fire slime though. I never knew they're goopy like puddles or quicksilvers.”

 

“You've never seen a fire slime?” Ed asked surprised.

 

Ling laughed self consciously. “I'm afraid I haven't been off the island chain much during this first month I've been here. We have quicksilvers of course, but other than that we have pinks, tabbies, puddles, and the occasional honey.”

 

Ed blinked in disbelief. “So you haven't even seen a rock slime?”

 

“Nope! I know they're common but they don't show up here.”

 

“Huh.” An idea started formulating in Ed’s head, but he had to focus on his research before thinking about that. 

 

Ed gently picked up a nearby quicksilver slime the way he picked up puddles (not fire slimes though, because they are hot) but it was only a few seconds before it wriggled out of his hands. 

 

“Your vapac can still carry slimes you know, Mei didn't put the limiter on like during feeding sessions.”

 

Ed sighed. “Yeah I know, I just like studying them out in the open. The vapack can give you a lot of god information, but a lot of that can be lost when the slime is basically turned into a liquid.”

 

Ling squatted down and started trying his own hand at catching a quicksilver slime. “Huh, I've never thought of that.”

 

Ed shrugged. “When you're a slime scientist you have to be really thorough, there's a lot we don't know about slimes still. Sorry if this gets a bit boring.”

 

“No, I think it's interesting. I might not… Really get what's going on but I can tell you're doing a good job.”

 

“Yeah?” Ed looked over at Ling with a small smile. “Thank you, I guess.”

 

Ling laughed. “It's no problem! You want help trying to get a quicksilver slime to calm down enough for you to study it a bit?”

 

“Yeah sure, I guess you're more of an expert at this than me.”

 

“Alright, here.” Ling grabbed the nozzle of his own vapac and hit a nearby quicksilver slime with a jolt of energy. It started glowing and sparking, and a diamond shaped object contained in a slimy bubble emerged from it. “It'll shock us a bit when we touch it but it'll be less squirmy now that it's fed.”

 

Ed nodded and picked up the slime. He almost let go from the impact of the shock but Ling came up and held Ed’s arms, locking the slime between them. 

 

Ed blushed a bit at the sudden touch but didn't say anything, instead just slowly leading Ling to sit down with the slime. 

 

Ed's study was conducted fairly quickly, he'd done similar observations with plenty of other slimes after all. He didn't say anything to Ling, only occasionally calling out measurements so they could be recorded in his notes. Handling slimes often required more than one hand and he already had one prosthetic so he'd devised a system to record things hands free. Occasionally it listed ‘bastard’ as the radius of a slime but that was more Ed’s fault than the recorder’s. 

 

When Ed let go of the slime he let out a breath, shaking out his flesh hand to try to get some feeling back into it after it touching the charged slime for so long. 

 

“...Was that it?” Ling asked, sounding a tad disappointed.

 

Ed snorted. “Not even close. I have to stay here for a few hours to make some observations on behavior. Before that though,” he stood up and walked over to the plort the slime had produced earlier. “I've got to take a look at this.”

 

“You know we sell quicksilver plorts, right?”

 

Ed rolled his eyes. “For an insane price. I've volunteered during feeding time. 25 newbucks a plort? Seriously? When I buy them it's about a thousand plus shipping. I buy slimes, not plorts.”

 

“Fair enough.”

 

Ed picked up the plort and gave it a few quick dimensional and hardness measurements before sitting down and placing it beside him, grabbing the nozzle of his vapac. He activated it and out came a tabby slime, who immediately tried to bounce away. 

 

“Oh no you don't Mittens,” Ed hissed. “I need you for this.”

 

Ling laughed at the sight. “You have a tabby slime named Mittens?”

 

Ed sighed. “Don't blame me, my brother named them. Said it's funny because slimes don't have paws. I keep them around for various interaction tests and Al just  _ had  _ to name them so I'd have to keep them forever.”

 

“So what's dear Mittens helping out with today?”

 

“To see if they eat the plort. Slimes are averse to eating puddle and fire plorts so I have to check to see if they'll eat these.”

 

Ed heald the plort in front of Mittens, who after contemplating the object for a bit opened their mouth wide. Before they could eat the plort, however, Ed snatched it back. 

 

“I know you'd love to be a largo, Mittens, but I wouldn't want to haul your fat ass all the way home through three portals.”

 

Ling smiled and crouched down closer to Mittens. “Can I pet them?”

 

“If you enjoy petting slimes, go ahead.”

 

“A cat is a cat, even if it is a bit gooey.”

 

Ed rolled his eyes but let Mittens stay out a bit longer to be pet by Ling. After a few more tests on the plort, the observation stage began. Ling stayed the entire time, probably because he had to, but Ed liked to imagine he enjoyed his company.

 

The two didn't really talk much at first, Ed just occasionally typed a word or two in his notes, but after a few minutes of silence a nice conversation sprung up.

 

Ed slowly realized how strange it felt to be having such a nice conversation with someone new. The Far Far Range was a bit of a lonely planet, just ranchers and their slimes. Ed had his brother of course, and they visited Winry's ranch often enough, but meeting someone new was a rarity. And he really  _ liked  _ Ling, that was the surprising part. At first he seemed like he'd be super annoying, but as time passed he just seemed more charming than anything.

 

Soon enough though it was time for Ed to leave. 

 

“Hey uh, thanks for hanging out, watchin the slimes… If you want you could come over to my place? It's a bit damp considering we… Live under the ocean but we have a large variety of slimes!”

 

Ling looked at Ed in surprise. “I uh… no problem, and sure! Yeah! I'd like that! Maybe I'll finally learn what the fuck a dervish is.”

 

Ed smiled. “Absolutely. Uh, send me some starmail and we can schedule things then?”

 

“It's a date!” Ling said with a wink. 

 

Ed rolled his eyes fondly and left, making his way towards the portal home. 

 

When he unpacked his bag when he got home, he found the quicksilver plort from earlier right on top with a note. 

 

_ You owe me 1000+ newbucks. (Jk, this one’s on the house).  _

 

__ Ling _ _

 

 


End file.
